Secrets Left Neglected

Chapter 60

Caoilainn

I roll out of bed leaving Tadhg sleep and pad over to the bathroom. I wince and cover my eyes reflexively and then slowly pull my hand from them as I adjust to the sudden brightness of our bathroom light.

I lean forward over the counter of the sink and stare at myself in the mirror.

Ug.

Are the dark rings under my eyes ever going to lighten up? I've been so tired these last few months. Between Tadhg's injury, waiting for him to be home and now living with all that it means for both of us, sleep has not been kind to me.

I blow a raspberry at myself in the mirror and turn to sit on the toilet. I  let my mind wander aimlessly as I take care of necessity. Before wadding up some toilet paper I run my hands down my face and groan inwardly.

I forgot to bring the basket of clean towels from downstairs up to our room last night.

Dammit.

Standing up to flush the toilet, I close the lid and turn to walk towards the door. Peeking into our dark room, I stick my head out and ask Tadhg if he can bring me some towels for after my shower.

I hear him turn in his sleep and mumble something barely coherent back to me. I think he said he'd get them for me, though, so I turn and head to the shower, moving the curtain aside so I can spin the dial to hot. Getting inside, I lose myself in the steam and wash away the sleep from the night before.

Tadhg

The shower runs in our bathroom and I turn to look at the door loathingly.

The last thing I feel like doing is getting out of bed. I'm comfortable and there's a pocket of just enough warmth to keep my body from wanting to leave the confines of the blankets.

My therapist has been telling me that I have to work on being considerate of Caoilainn more, however, so I begrudgenly turn and get out of bed. Finding my shorts on the chair next to our bed, I go through the morning routine of putting them on. Since half of my body is foreign to me, it's like wrestling cats, though I'm getting a little better at it.

Thankfully, my short term memory troubles are starting to improve. I still have them but not as bad as before.

Fastening the button at the top of the zipper, I then itch at the hair on my chest and yawn. I scratch my head and try to focus on getting myself out of our bedroom without hitting anything. I'm happy when I make it downstairs without stubbing my left toe or whacking my left elbow on a door jam or a piece of furniture. I make my way to the laundry room and movement catches my eye from our sliding glass doors.

Forgetting the towels, I walk closer to get a better look. There are sparrows and robins in our lawn. It rained last night. They must be hunting for breakfast. I smile at the sight of them and just as I start to turn away, I see a blue jay land on a nearby tree. He's beautiful. They say they're good luck, as well as symbols of an early marriage in life. I did marry Caoilainn young so there you go.

I turn towards the kitchen and realize I have forgotten why I'm down here. What was I supposed to be getting?

Crap!

I was just saying to myself that my memory is improving and here I am standing around like an idiot without a clue as to what I should be doing.

I see my therapy journal on the table and walk over to it to flip the pages. Maybe the answer's in it.

I'm turning pages when I find the most recent entry. I'm surprised to see the note I've written is about Caoilainn. Reading it, I realize that I've been speaking with my therapist about the importance of doing for others and for seeing things from their point of view.